Art for Health Care

Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn is letting artists of all stripes pay for their medical bills by trading “credits” they earn by donating their skills & time to patients in recovery. The program called “Artist Access” was born last year, when Dr. Edward Fishkin, Medical Director of Brooklyn’s Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center, met Laura Colby a former dancer turned performing arts agent.

The Artist Access program allows artists to provide interactive art programs for patients in exchange for health care credits. The credits are deposited in the artist’s personal account, 40 credits for each hour of work which equates to about 40$ [sic] an hour and can be used to cover sliding scale fees in Woodhull’s HHC Options program.

BaS author Hudgens asserts, “[The Artist Access Program] isn’t a soulution for the masses and looks to be a buracratic ousourcing [sic] of rehabilitation entertainment & inspiration program development but it’s a brave step in the right direction…” I cannot say I agree that this program is a mere bureaucratic solution in avoidance of regular rehab entertainment expenses, but I do think it is a creative solution to the perennial problem of obtaining adequate health care for artists who do not make enough money on their own to purchase health insurance or who do not wish to get a day job just to obtain insurance.